Reedy

Andrew F. Mollica, New Smyrna Beach, and Elizabeth Mollica, Casselberry, announce the engagement of their daughter, Lisanne, Casselberry, to Carles D. Reedy, Longwood, son of Evelyn C. Reedy, Longboat Key, and the late Carles D. Reedy Sr. No wedding date has been set. The bride-elect graduated from Lake Howell High, Maitland, and University of Central Florida, Orlando. Her fiance graduated from North Miami High and attended Miami-Dade Junior College, Miami.

Of all the additions Walt Disney World will make during the next few years as it transforms its Downtown Disney shopping district into the larger "Disney Springs," none will be more important than a pair of parking garages. The twin garages, to be built at opposite ends of the 120-acre retail complex, will have a combined 6,000 spaces - and, Disney hopes, will ease complaints from guests sick of hunting for places to park their cars. But Disney doesn't plan to pay for the garages itself.

Reedy, former press secretary for President Lyndon Johnson who quit after disagreeing with Johnson's Vietnam War policies, died Sunday in Milwaukee after a short illness. He was 81. Helen Thomas, White House correspondent for United Press International, worked with Reedy in his reporting days and on the other side of the aisle, after he became a political aide. ``He had great depth and was very respected in the journalistic field,'' Thomas said. After working for UPI in Washington, Reedy joined the U.S. Senate staff of Johnson, a Texas Democrat, in 1951.

The Walt Disney World-appointed board that runs the Reedy Creek Improvement District voted unanimously Friday to side with management in stalemated contract talks with the district's firefighters. Without any substantive debate, the five-member board of supervisors opted for a management-proposed insurance plan over a more generous option sought by the Disney resort firefighters. It was the last remaining unresolved issue after more than two years of bargaining between district administrators and their firefighters.

TALKING AGAIN. Contract negotiations between Walt Disney World and the Reedy Creek Firefighters Association Local No. 2117 resumed Thursday with little progress. The negotiations were to continue this morning. The firefighters' three-year contract expires at midnight Saturday. Wages for the 110 firefighters working on Disney property are the major issue. Little progress has been made since talks began in December.

THE POINCIANA Homeowners' Association will hold its next meeting Feb. 18 at 7:30 p.m. at the community center. David Snedeker, vice-principal of the Beaumont Middle School in Kissimmee, will be the guest speaker. He will discuss the status of the rehabilitation of the Reedy Creek Overlook, located off Poinciana Boulevard. Everyone interested in ecology is invited to attend and learn learn what is being done to renew this property, built in 1974 by GAC, the original developer of Poinciana.

The state Department of Transportation will begin work on the Reedy Creek Bridge on Interstate 4 between mileposts 60 and 61, which will slow traffic in the eastbound lanes. The work is expected to be completed by Monday.

MRS. REEDY, 1701 W. Mabbette St., Kissimmee, died Wednesday, April 21. She was a homemaker. Born in Calvary, Va., she moved to Kissimmee from Baltimore four years ago. Survivors: son, Robert E., Kissimmee; sister, Thelma Bauserman, Virginia. Grissom Funeral Home, Kissimmee.

MRS. KENNEY, 144 S. Halifax Ave., Daytona Beach, died Sunday, June 26. She was a homemaker. Born in Pine Top, Ky., she moved to Lake County in 1919. She was a member of the First Baptist Church, Daytona Beach. Survivors: daughter, Jane Alice Kenney, Daytona Beach; sister, Nannie Reedy Parsons, Umatilla. Harden-Pauli Funeral Home, Eustis.

When it comes to negotiating for better pay and working conditions, the firefighters who protect Walt Disney World say they fall in a nebulous gap between public and private employment. As public workers, the firefighters, who are employed by the Reedy Creek Improvement District , are forbidden by Florida law from striking. But appealing directly to elected leaders or the general public isn't much of an option, either, because Reedy Creek elections are decided entirely by Disney . Now, they are trying to gain a little leverage in another way. Leaders of the Reedy Creek Fire Fighters Association, locked once again in a contract dispute with district administrators, say they will no longer accept an unusual provision in their contract that prohibits them from picketing anywhere in or near the district — and, by extension, anywhere in or near Disney World.

When Orange County property appraisers decided to lower the value of Walt Disney World 's theme-park land in 2010, the reductions wound up having little effect on the governments that Disney itself controls: the Reedy Creek Improvement District and the tiny cities of Bay Lake and Lake Buena Vista . But Orange County government, the School Board and the South Florida Water Management District all took a hit....

Former Reedy Creek Improvement District Administrator Tom Moses was formally elected to the district's governing board Wednesday, filling a rare opening atop the obscure special district that oversees Walt Disney World. Moses, 77, replaces longtime board President Tom DeWolf, a lawyer who helped write the legislation that created Reedy Creek. DeWolf retired after nearly 40 years on the board. The vote, which was decided by district landowners based on the amount of property they own, was unanimous.

Orange County fire crews are assisting Reedy Creek firefighters with a brush fire, fire officials said. Reedy Creek Assistant Chief Bo Jones said crews had difficulty getting to the small fire because they needed to get their equipment across a drainage canal. Orange County officials provided a boat to help battle the quarter-acre fire in a remote area of the Disney-owned property. The fire was reported about 2:30 p.m. near Disney's Fort Wilderness Lodge near World Drive and Timberline Drive, according to Orange County fire officials.

It's not quite white smoke rising from St. Peter's Basilica, but Florida's most mysterious election process is unfolding this month at, of all places, Walt Disney World. About two weeks from now, Disney will formally nominate a new candidate for a seat on the board of the Reedy Creek Improvement District, the obscure government that oversees the giant resort's 25,000 acres in Central Florida. The assignment comes with what may very well be the greatest perk of any elected office in the state: a piece of the Magic Kingdom itself.

In the mixed media works of Rob Reedy, colors and shapes swim and clash together like ingredients in a hearty stew. It's no accident: The UCF art professor's background in the traditions of rural Mississippi has been enhanced rather than muted by his academic leanings, and the title of his new exhibit refers to the blend of those influences. View Reedy's ceramics and paintings at the reception today, and meet the artist for a gallery walk Wednesday at 6 p.m. Pictured: "Samurai" by Reedy.

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